NEWS FROM GERMANY

Evening Post, Volume CXXII, Issue 149, 21 December 1936, Page 15

NEWS FROM GERMANY

"MANCHESTER GUARDIAN'S"

POSITION

Several correspondents comment upon the letter in Friday's "Post" in which Mr. Rudolf Cerny,. a German visitor, protested against the prominence given to newSj and views on Germany as published in the "Man r Chester Guardian."

"A British Jew and Proud of It" considers that Mr. Cerny's failure to understand the Britisher, what he is and what he stands for, is manifest in the latter part of his letter. "Whether or not the 'Manchester Guardian' is a Jewish-owned paper 1 do not know. If it is, it is a great compliment to the 'Jew's, as this paper is recognised to be one of the most truthful in England and is ranked with the London 'Times,' which is in itself a great tribute. What Mr. Cerny takes exception to is probably the. published accounts of atrocities committed against people who are opposed to Hitler and his regime and especially against the Jews. No matter what Mr. Cerny, or even Hitler, says, the Jews are loyal and lawabiding citizens of the.country of their birth, and in Germany, as elsewhere in Europe, have been made a scapegoat. This fact has been proved over and over again by independent witnesses. Durihg my three-year: sojourn in Germany I found decent Germans who held up their hands in horror at the brutality of the Jew-baiting which is indulged in. The majority of Englishmen will not tolerate anything that savours of the tactics of Hitler and his followers. ... We do not wish to interfere with the internal politics of Germany, but the British Empire and many other countries besides criticise Germany and condemn her for her wanton cruelty." "Regarding . the 'Manchester Guardian' and Mr. Cerny's allegation of Jewish ownership, may I quote the 'Newspaper Press Directory,' whicb says:— 'The literary quality, political power, and excellent commercial intelligence of the 'Manchester Guardian" place it in the front rank of English provincial journals, and have obtained for it also a circulation of a valuable character throughout England and abroad.' On examining a list of directors of trje 'Manchester Guardian' as published in 'The British Press,' published by Europa Publications, Ltd., London, I find only one man who may have been a Jew, and who died in 1928. The following* note is appended: 'This is a private company, representing the Scott family, which has been actively associated with the "Manchester Guardian" through its editor, Mr. C.'P. Scott, for many years. It publishes also the "Manchester Evening News".'" Graham MacKay (Dunedin) writes: "Having visited Germany on business twice since the Hitler regime, I feel that I am in a position to comment on your correspondent's statements. I have always found the German people to be courteous and hospitable to British people visiting their country. Mr. Cerny states that the German people are a very happy and prosperous people under Hitler, who is loved and not feared by the nation. On the contrary, I found that food is scarce and that butter and meat are luxuries. While entering a small town I saw stretched across the street a notice with the words, 'Jews not wanted here,' and also several municipal baths with notices 'Jews and dogs not admitted,' of which I procured ' photographs. Jewish children are segregated from Aryan children in the schools, and have to listen to the race to which they belong defamed without regard to the children's feelings whatsoever. Herr Hitler, in his. insatiable hatred of the Jew is not content with robbing the German ..Jew alone of his human rights'; he has now in addition launched ,a , campaign of defamation against the whole of Jewry throughout the world. Any New Zealander, no matter what political yiews^ he holds, also, any foreigner, can freely discuss or criticise the actions or methods of the New Zealand Government without fear of being thrown into a concentration camp. Can Mr. Cerny say the same about Germany? , Freedom of the Press is not allowed in Germany, and many newspapers have been_ suspended and editors arrested for merely publishing news which has found disfavour with the Nazis. .'.. Mr.< Cerny mentions, that' the .'Manchester Guardian' has no correspondents ',_ in Germ.any as ' their. . last "correspondents were expelled two' years, ago. '.[Why? Because they dared to tell the real conditions, of misery and persecution."

Other writers, H. H. Hopley and A. M. Hall, also criticise .German policy. ....

On the other side, • "Anti-Propa-ganda." "as one who served against Mr. Rudolf Cerny's fellow-countrymen for more than four years in the Great War, and who suffered serious injury in the process,", supports him in his protest against the continual quotation -...of the "Manchester Guardian" in the New Zealand Eress. . . . "The extreme antiGerman bias of this paper, and of the 'News Chronicle' must be evident to anyone who takes the trouble to read the British newspapers in the .Central Library or elsewhere. Neither' are at all representative of the British Press as a whole, . ; . In foreign affairs they are uniformly pro-Red. . . . Their object appears to be to incite the utmost possible hatred of Germany, Italy, Japan, and the Spanish Nationalists, and in this they menace world peace. Both support Russia and the League of Nations, and it may be that our news supply frpm these organs coincided with the British pro-League policy adopted a few years ago."